Per year
I think Pitt needs to figure out a moneyball approach to this. Not sure if this would work but this is how I'd do it. I think $10 million is a reasonal salary budget for a school like Pitt.
QB: $2 million
WR 1: $ 1 million
WR 2: $500K
4 offensive linemen: $3 million
That's $6.5 million on offense. Looking at Pitt players in the past for comparison, I think these are the types of players we get with those numbers if they were in the portal or developed at Pitt:
QB - Tyler Palko
WR 1 - Tyler Boyd
WR 2 - Jester Weah
Linemen - about as good linemen as we've had except maybe Brian O'Neill
Defense -$2.5 million
DT - $750K
DE - $500K
Corner - $500K
MLB - $500K
Safety - $250K
Rest of team: $1 million
I'd also only keep 75 guys on scholarship. 85 is too many to pay. Don't bring in as many HS players who take time and that you have to pay to learn. Focus on the portal on guys who can plug and play even if they arent super talented. So 63 guys split $1 million. That's $16K/year.
I dont think you need to spend on a RB or TE. The RB position is irrelevant. The TE position is important but I dont think that in most cases we can afford a really good TE and even if we can, I dont see them making a big impact like you'll see with Gavin Bartholomew. I'd rather GB money went to a WR or OL.